In 2018, the full provider cost of my prescription medications, neurologist visits, hospital visits, lab tests, MRI's, and Multiple Sclerosis Disease Modifying Therapy Treatments totaled $246,039.47. The provider cost is the full cost charged to the uninsured by each of these places for the services that I received Luckily, I am insured. The insurance company somehow negotiates MUCH lower fees, bringing the cost down to the discounted rate of $90,320.76 for the medical services I received in the 12 months of 2018.
Thanks to my very hard-working husband, I have a pretty great insurance plan through his place of employment. I do not have Medicaid, Medicare, or any other State subsidized health insurance plan. We pay our premium out of pocket each and every month. The reason I am telling you this is because some folks seem to be under the impression that the only reason anybody would support "Obamacare" is because they think that they are entitled to be insured on everyone else's dime, but I don't need your dimes. (I do believe that healthcare is a basic human right, rather than an entitlement, but that's another whole blog.) So, my social consciousness aside, why is the ACA important to me and my family? Why do I take it personally when people who are important to me support repealing the ACA? Prior to 2010, insurance company's were allowed to impose limits on the annual and lifetime dollar amounts that they would pay out per insured individual. Employer sponsored insurance plans were also allowed to refuse to insure people with pre-existing health conditions, or charge them higher premiums than healthy people for the same coverage. I was diagnosed with MS in 2008, and in case you didn't know, it would have been considered a pre-existing condition. It is Provisions in the ACA that now forbid insurers from imposing annual or lifetime maximums on benefits, or refusing to insure people with pre-existing health conditions. Without the protections of Obamacare, we would certainly go bankrupt. Even if my insurer didn't drop me, but did revert back to capping annual and lifetime benefits, it wouldn't take me very long to max out. My other option, to save my family from losing everything, would be to stop fighting this disease and let nature take its course. I'm not a fan of either option, which is why Obamacare, and your support or opposition of Obamacare, is personal for me.
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